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BR  128  .B8  H3  c.l 
HasG,  Karl  Alfred  von,  18A2 
1914. 

New  Testament  parallels  in 

Buddhistic  literature 


Foreign  Religious  Series 


Edited  by 
R.  J.   COOKE,  D.  D. 


First  Series.    i6mo,  cloth.     Each  40  cents,  net. 


THE  VIRGIN  BIRTH 

By  Professor  Richard  H.  Griitzmacher,  of  the 
University  of  Rostock 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  JESUS 

By  Professor  Edtiard    Riggenbach,  of  the  University 
of  Basle 


THE  SINLESSNESS  OF  JESUS 

By  Professor  Max  Meyer,  Lie.  Theol.,  Gottberg, 

Germany 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  JESUS 

By  Professor  Karl  Beth,  of  the  University 
of  Berlin 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  JOHN  AND  THE 

SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS 

By  Professor  Fritz  Barth,  of  the  University 
of  Bern 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PARALLELS  IN 
BUDDHISTIC  LITERATURE 

By   Professor  Karl  Von  Hase,  of  the  University 
of  Breslau 


New  Testament 

Parallels  in  Buddhistic 

Literature 


By 
KARL  VON  HASE 

(Professor  in  the  University  of  Breslau,  Germany) 


NEW     YORK:     EATON    &    MAINS 
CINCINNATI:  JENNINGS  &  GRAHAM 


Copyright,  1907,  by 
EATON  &  MAINS. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  PARALLELS  IN 
BUDDHISTIC  LITERATURE 

I 

For  the  intellectual  life  of  our  times  Bud- 
dhism has  become  an  important  factor. 
Since  the  year  1891  three  international  so- 
cieties for  the  propagation  of  Buddhism  in 
India  and  the  West  have  been  formed  in 
Calcutta,  Rangoon,  and  Tokyo;  also,  pro- 
vincial societies  in  Colombo,  Burma,  and 
San  Francisco. 

A  Buddhist  catechism  in  the  English  lan- 
guage, by  Henry  E.  Olcott,  has  been  pub- 
lished in  its  thirty-fifth  edition,  and  trans- 
lated into  more  than  twenty  languages.  Not 
only  in  England,  whose  interest  in  Bud- 
dhism can  readily  be  understood,  but  even 
in  Germany  enthusiastic  advocates  of  this 
religion,  which  they  call  "The  Religion  of 
the  Future,"  are  on  the  increase.  In  Der 
Buddhist,  a  monthly  magazine  on  Bud- 
dhism, published  since  April,  1905,  by  the 
Buddhist  publishing  firm  at  Leipsic  and 
edited  by  Karl  R.  Seidenstiicker  with  the 
assistance  of  Buddhist  monks,  priests,  and 
3 


4         New  Testament  Parallels 

laymen,  we  read  in  the  preface:  "The  ap- 
pearance of  a  Buddhist  magazine  in  Europe, 
especially  in  Germany,  is  made  desirable  by 
the  continual  increase  of  those  who,  directly 
or  indirectly,  must  be  designated  as  adher- 
ents of  Buddhism.  More  than  this,  the  pro- 
duction of  a  central  organ  for  these  cir- 
cles has  become  an  urgent  necessity." 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  "Buddhist  Mis- 
sionary Society  in  Germany,"  with  its  head- 
quarters  at   Leipsic,    founded   August    15, 

1903,  twenty-two  public  lectures  were  de- 
livered at  Leipsic  during  the  winter  of  1903- 

1904,  in  the  interest  of  Buddhism,  besides 
the  publication  of  small  Buddhist  writings. 

In  the  first  number  of  The  Buddhist  we 
read:  "We  stand  at  the  beginning  of  a 
powerful  religious  movement,  and  the  next 
decades  have  unexpected  surprises  in  store 
for  the  West  in  that  direction."  The  offi- 
cial numbers  also  of  the  so-called  Vedanta 
Philosophe,  edited  by  E.  A.  Kernwart,  en- 
deavor to  make  propaganda  for  this  con- 
ception of  the  world  and  life.  The  novel  In 
the  Shadow  of  Death  obtained  the  prize  for 
its  description  of  the  belief  in  regeneration 
in  a  Buddhist  sense. 


In  Buddhistic  Literature  5 

How  is  this  fancy  for  Buddhism  in  our 
day  to  be  explained?  It  is  not  merely  a 
whim  of  certain  circles,  a  spiritual  sport,  a 
mere  accident.  On  the  one  hand,  Buddhism 
is  met  by  a  pessimistic  conception  of  life, 
which  finds  in  it  a  confirmation  and  often 
a  thrilling  expression  for  its  disposition  and 
conception  of  the  world.  On  the  other  hand, 
an  opposition  to  an  incoherent,  a  materialis- 
tic, worldly  view  which  does  not  satisfy 
ithe  internal  life  and  a  deeper  want  which 
does  not  find  in  Christianity  the  solution 
of  the  world  riddles  of  life,  but  has  a  theo- 
sophico-world  bent,  leads  directly  toward 
Buddhism. 

One  may  show  how  the  movement  or- 
iginated in  Germany,  and  how  it  was  ad- 
vanced by  the  aid  of  literature.  First  of  all 
by  Schopenhauer,  who,  while  a  young  man 
at  Weimar,  was  led  by  the  so-called  "Kunst- 
Meyer"  to  the  study  of  Hindu  literature,  and 
from  it  obtained  that  pessimism  which  char- 
acterizes his  philosophy  of  the  The  World  as 
Will  and  Idea.  Then  by  Edward  von  Hart- 
mann,  who,  in  his  Philosophy  of  the  Uncon- 
scious, considered  the  cessation  of  conscious- 
ness and  destruction  of  the  human  race  as 


6         New  Testament  Parallels 

most  desirable.  Also,  by  Frederick  Niet- 
zsche, who  knows  no  guilt,  but  only  folly. 
To  these  may  be  added  the  newest  so-called 
Seekers  of  God  and  All-seers  in  Friedrich- 
shagen,  on  the  Mueggel-lake,  near  Berlin 
— the  brothers  Hart,  Wilhelm  Boschle  and 
Brune  Wille,  who,  secluded  from  the  world, 
and  yet  not  too  far  from  the  imperial  city, 
seek  to  lose  themselves  by  a  mystic  absorp- 
tion into  the  universe.  All  these,  as  has 
justly  been  said,  have  tasted  more  or  less 
of  the  sweet  poison,  and  like  any  Asiatic 
have  eagerly  grasped  at  the  Buddhist  opium 
pipe. 

When  one  considers  that  Schopenhauer 
IS  read  especially  by  the  academically  edu- 
cated young  people,  not  in  his  large  philo- 
sophical works  but  in  the  minor,  easy,  witty 
Parerga  und  Paralipomena ;  that  Edward 
von  Hartmann's  Philosophy  of  the  Uncon- 
scious is  published  in  stereotyped  editions; 
that  the  Friedrichshagen  colony  works 
through  novels  and  poems,  one  can  easily 
see  that  the  spread  of  Buddhist  teachings 
among  many  finds  a  well-prepared  soil. 

True,  these  currents  move  within  certain 
circles,  one  might  almost  say  within  certain 


In  Buddhistic  Literature  7 

conditions  and  periods  of  life,  which  fact 
makes  them  interesting  and  fashionable  for 
many.  But,  with  the  journalism  of  our  day 
it  cannot  be  otherwise  than  similar  to  the 
case  created  by  the  lectures  on  ''Babel  and 
Bible"  by  Delitzsch.  The  movement  will  in- 
fluence large  circles.  On  the  other  hand, 
many  who  praise  Buddhism  have  no  clear 
perception  of  it.  They  are  enthusiastic 
about  ancient  Hindu  philosophy  and  poetry, 
with  its  wistful  speculations  and  dreaming 
monotony,  and  call  this  Buddhism  without 
knowing  its  origin,  and  without  distinguish- 
ing it  from  present-day  Buddhism.  They 
find  surprising  similarities  between  Bud- 
dhism and  Christianity,  and  do  not  perceive 
that  these  similarities  are  only  apparent  and 
fallacious.  They  praise  the  noble  morality 
of  Buddhism  and  do  not  consider  the  effects 
which  these  ethical  views  would  have  upon 
our  national  life  should  they  obtain  author- 
ity. 

But  serious  science  has  also  become  inter- 
ested in  Buddhism.  Since  Sanscrit  scholars 
more  than  a  century  ago  opened  the  treas- 
ures of  ancient  Indian  poetry  and  wisdom, 
the  sacred  writings  of  the  Buddhists  have 


8         New  Testament  Parallels 

been  translated  more  and  more  into  the  lan- 
guages of  Europe.  The  life  of  Buddha,  his 
teaching,  and  the  history  of  Buddhism  have 
been  scientifically  investigated.  Although 
the  time  of  composition  of  many  Buddhist 
writings  is  still  uncertain,  their  totality, 
concerning  which  there  is  always  something 
new,  forms  a  part  of  the  literature  of  India. 

The  recently  opened  sources  have  aided 
much  in  the  study  of  the  science  of  compara- 
tive religions,  which  is  so  eagerly  cultivated 
in  our  day.  The  great  law  of  evolution  in 
natural  science  is  applied  to  the  religious 
events  of  the  world's  history.  According 
to  this  law,  even  in  history  nothing  appears 
without  mediation.  Science,  by  eliminating, 
from  this  standpoint,  every  immediate  in- 
terference of  God  and  every  revelation,  can 
conceive  and  represent  historically  only  that 
which  happened.  The  origin  of  Christianity 
is  explained  from  the  cooperation  of  Greek, 
Jewish,  and  Oriental  intellectual  forces  and 
conditions.  With  great  learning  relations 
and  influences  are  everywhere  demonstrated. 

The  influence  of  Babylonian  culture  upon 
the  ideas  of  Israel,  and  thus  upon  the  sacred 
writings  of  the  Old  Testament,  was  acknowl- 


In  Buddhistic  Literature  9 

eaged  in  scientific  circles  long  before  the 
"Babel  and  Bible"  controversy.  But  it  was 
the  exaggeration,  the  form  of  its  assertion, 
and  the  erroneous  consequences  inferred 
therefrom  which  excited  the  mind.  Through 
a  quiet  scientific  discussion  the  facts  are  be- 
ing elucidated,  though  at  some  points  there 
is  still  a  difference  of  opinion  which  may  last 
for  a  long  time.  More  important,  however, 
is  the  question  concerning  the  relation  of 
Christianity  to  Buddhism;  especially  of  the 
possible  dependence  of  the  Gospels  upon 
Buddhist  sources.  It  is  true  that  the  asser- 
tion of  Buddhist  influences  upon  Christian- 
ity is  by  no  means  new.  Rationalism  had 
already  made  the  suggestion  that  Jesus  ac- 
quired his  wisdom  and  knowledge  during  a 
lengthy  abode  in  Egypt  and  India ;  a  sugges- 
tion which  quite  recently  supplied  the  ma- 
terial for  a  French  hagiologist  to  compose, 
under  the  name  of  Pierre  Leroux,  a  novel 
which  he  entitled  Jesus,  in  which  a  Bud- 
dhist, a  venerable  man  who  had  come  to 
Nazareth  for  the  study  of  religions,  having 
perceived  the  magnetic  power  of  the  boy 
Jesus,  which  he  displayed  in  an  accidental 
helping,    took    him   to    Egypt    and    made 


lo       New  Testament  Parallels 

him  acquainted  with  the  mysteries  of  Bud- 
dhism. 

In  a  scientific  manner  Rudolf  Seydel,  pro- 
fessor of  philosophy  at  Leipsic,  was  the  first 
who  endeavored  to  prove  Buddhist  influ- 
ences, though  not  upon  Christ,  yet  upon  the 
origin  of  the  New  Testament  Gospels  and 
the  Revelation  of  John,  in  his  work  Das 
Evangelium  Jesu  in  Seinem  Verhaltniss  zur 
Buddha  sage,  etc.,  Leipsic,  1882,  which  was 
followed  by  a  lecture  on  "Buddha  and 
Christ,"  1883,  and  in  1884  by  Die  Buddhale- 
gende  und  das  Leben  Jesu  nach  den  Evan- 
gelien  (second  edition  published  by  the  son 
in  1897).  He  imagined  himself  to  have 
found  in  Buddhist  writings  a  great  many 
narratives  which  served  as  models  for  the 
evangelistic  accounts  of  the  life  of  Jesus.  To 
make  this  fancy  acceptable,  he  advanced 
the  hypothesis  that  the  evangelists,  espe- 
cially Saint  Luke,  perused  for  the  Lifancy 
story  a  poetic  apocalyptic  gospel,  now  lost, 
for  which  a  biography  of  Buddha  was  used 
as  a  pattern.  This  Buddhizing  Christian  gos- 
pel followed  the  Buddha  legend  closely, 
except  that  it  passed  over  everything  specific- 
ally Indian,  everything  which  was  too  sen- 


In  Buddhistic  Literature         ii 

sual  and  colored,  sexual,  corrupting,  and 
supplying  as  far  as  possible  Old  Testament 
reminiscences  in  the  proper  places.  In  a 
Christian  sense  it  consecrated,  deepened,  and 
spiritualized  the  Buddhist  borrowings.  Be- 
sides the  collection  of  sayings  of  proto- 
Matthew  and  the  stories  of  proto-Mark, 
Seydel  imagines  that  the  three  synoptists 
had  before  them  this  Buddhistically  colored, 
poetic-apocalyptic  type  of  Jesus.  He  as- 
sumes that  it  was  one  of  the  "many'*  sources 
which  Luke  i.  i  mentions.  Seydel  tried 
to  prove  this  by  referring  to  no  less  than 
fifty-one  pieces,  taken  from  the  evangelistic 
history  as  well  as  from  the  teachings  of 
Jesus,  in  which  he  thought  to  show  analo- 
gies and  borrowings. 

The  possibility  that,  inversely,  the  Chris- 
tian Gospels  could  have  influenced  the  Bud- 
dhist legend  Seydel  rejected,  asserting 
the  earlier  origin  of  the  Buddhist  original 
writings  in  question,  especially  of  Lahta- 
Vistara,  the  main  source  of  the  legendary 
biography  of  Buddha.  He  pointed  to  the  fact 
that  the  original  text,  now  lost,  was  trans- 
lated into  Chinese  in  A.  D.  (>y,  and  is  now 
extant  in  an  enlarged  form,  which  enlarge- 


12       New  Testament  Parallels 

ment  probably  originated  in  the  first  Chris- 
tian century;  and  he  emphasized  the  early 
pre-Christian  formation  of  an  idolatrously 
worshiped  Buddhist  canon,  which  precludes 
a  Christian  influence.  Though  the  time  of 
composition  of  the  Buddhist  writings  in 
question  has  not  yet  been  fixed  with  certain- 
ty, so  that  the  chronological  table  added  to 
the  second  edition  of  The  Buddha  Legend 
and  the  Life  of  Jesus  by  M.  Seydel  is  only 
to  serve  as  a  help  to  the  reader  and  not  as  a 
record  of  certain  events,  it  is  admitted  as 
very  probable  that  the  respective  Buddhist 
writings  were  composed  before  the  Gospels. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  since  the  campaign 
of  Xerxes  and  Alexander  the  Great  an  inter- 
course existed  between  the  Far  East  and 
Asia  Minor.^  But  this  influence  must  not 
be  overrated.  Such  a  prominent  scholar  as 
Max  Miiller  writes  in  1883,  with  reference 
to  the  present  question:  "That  surprising 
agreements  are  extant  between  Buddhism 
and  Christianity  cannot  be  denied.  It  must 
also  be  admitted  that  Buddhism  existed  at 
least  four  hundred  years  before  Christian- 


*  See  the  opinion  of  Professor  Rhys  Davids  on  this  entire  sub- 
ject in  Incarnation  and  Recent  Criticism,  p.  97.  Eaton  &  Mains. 


In  Buddhistic  Literature         13 

ity;  I  even  go  further,  and  should  be  thank- 
ful in  the  highest  degree  if  someone  could 
show  me  the  historical  channels  through 
which  Buddhism  had  influenced  ancient 
Christianity.  All  my  life  I  have  sought  for 
these  channels,  but  thus  far  I  have  found 
none."  Later  (1896),  the  same  scholar  has, 
indeed,  mentioned  not  only  a  number  of 
analogies  between  these  religions,  like  con- 
fession, fasting,  celibacy  of  the  priests, 
rosary,  which,  however,  belong  not  to  bib- 
lical Christianity  but  to  a  later  development. 
He  also  referred  to  Old  and  New  Testament 
stories  which  can  be  traced  back  to  Buddhist 
sources,  but  the  proof  of  this  he  does  not 
give.  His  reference  to  the  Buddhist  mis- 
sionaries who  went  out  into  the  world  in  the 
third  century  before  Christ  is  met  by  the 
fact  that,  in  spite  of  its  missionaries,  Bud- 
dhism was  very  little  known  in  the  Christian 
circles  of  Asia  Minor,  Egypt,  or  even  of  the 
West  during  the  first  two  Christian  cen- 
turies. Clement  of  Alexandria,  who  died 
about  A.  D.  211,  IS  the  first  to  mention 
Buddha  by  name,  and  he  speaks  of  his  com- 
mandments, his  deification,  and  the  worship 
of  his  bones. 


14        New  Testament  Parallels 

Seydel's  statements  caused  much  com- 
ment, while  some  took  exceptior.  to  some 
points  and  objected  to  his  hypothesis;  but, 
on  the  whole,  they  acknowledged  at  least 
the  possibility  of  Buddhistic  influence  upon 
Christianity  and  the  composition  of  the  Gos- 
pels, yea,  some  partly  went  beyond  Seydel's 
moderate  assertions. 

That  which  science  acknowledged  as  pos- 
sible was  taken  for  granted  by  others  and 
made  the  most  of  in  a  literary  way.  Six 
years  after  the  appearance  of  Seydel's  first 
work  Friedrich  Zimmermann,  under  the  fic- 
titious name  of  a  Bhikchu  monk,  Subhadra, 
wrote  in  his  Buddhist  catechism :  "It  is  very 
probable  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whose 
teachings  agree  so  much  with  those  of  Bud- 
dhism, from  his  twelfth  to  his  thirtieth  year, 
during  which  time  the  Gospels  know  nothing 
of  him,  was  a  disciple  of  Buddhist  monks, 
and  under  their  guidance  obtained  perfec- 
tion. He  then  returned  to  his  native  coun- 
try to  proclaim  to  his  people  the  redeeming 
doctrine.  This  teaching  of  Jesus  was  after- 
ward mutilated  and  mixed  with  errors  from 
the  law  book  of  the  Jews.  The  principal 
teachings  of  Christianity,  however,  as  well 


In  Buddhistic  Literature         15 

as  the  whole  work  of  the  founder,  are  cer- 
tainly of  Buddhist  origin ;  and  the  kind  Naz- 
arene,  whom  every  Buddhist  will  also  rev- 
erence, was  an  Aralia,  who  had  obtained  the 
Nirvana.  Now  the  time  is  again  ripe  in 
Europe,  when  the  Western  descendants  of 
the  Aryans  can  hear  and  know  the  pure,  un- 
adulterated teaching  of  Buddha.  This  will 
be  the  Religion  of  the  Future  in  Europe.** 

What  Subhadra  considered  as  probable, 
Nicolas  Notovitsch  meant  to  prove  histor- 
ically. In  Thibet,  the  country  of  Lamaism, 
he  claimed  to  have  found  an  ancient  docu- 
ment in  a  Buddhist  monastery,  whose  con- 
tents he  published  in  his  La  Vie  inconnue  de 
Jesus  Christ  (A  Gap  in  the  Life  of  Jesus), 
Paris,  1894.  In  this  document  we  are  told 
that  Jesus  when  fourteen  years  of  age  had 
fled  to  India,  where  the  Brahmans  taught 
him  to  read  the  Vedas,  to  cure  by  means  of 
prayer,  and  to  drive  out  evil  spirits.  After 
six  years  he  was  obliged  to  leave  that  terri- 
tory because  he  had  taken  care  of  slaves. 
He  then  came  into  the  territory  of  Buddha, 
studied  his  teachings  and  preached  what  he 
considered  the  highest  perfection.  From 
India  he  went  to  Persia,  and  when  twenty- 


1 6       New  Testament,  Parallels 

nine  years  old  he  returned  again  to  Pales- 
tine. He  went  about  as  a  preacher,  was  ac- 
cused before  Pilate  as  dangerous,  but  though 
protected  by  the  Pharisees,  his  friends,  he 
was,  nevertheless,  tortured  and  executed. 
On  the  third  day  his  grave  was  found  empty, 
and  the  rumor  had  spread  that  the  great 
Judge  had  sent  his  angel  to  remove  to  the 
heights  the  mortal  frame  of  the  Holy,  in 
whom  a  part  of  the  Divine  Spirit  dwelt  on 
earth.  The  book  was  proved  to  be  a  fraud. 
Such  literary  misuse  has  not  deterred 
science  from  reexamining  the  supposed 
parallels  between  the  Gospels  and  the  Bud- 
dhist traditions.  English,  French,  German, 
and  Dutch  scholars  took  up  the  work.  This 
was  especially  done  by  H.  S.  Stix,  in  Christ 
or  Buddha?  Leipsic,  1900;  also,  by  Otto 
Pfleiderer  in  a  lecture  delivered  before  the 
International  Congress  of  Religions  at 
Amsterdam,  September,  1903;  and  by  D.  G. 
A.  Van  den  Bergh,  of  Eysinga,  in  his  In- 
dische  Enfliisse  auf  evangelische  Erzuhlun- 
gen  (in  the  Forschungen,  edited  by  Bous- 
set  and  Gunkel,  fourth  part).  Both  Pfleid- 
erer and  Van  den  Bergh  admit  Buddhist  in- 
fluences upon  the  evangelic  narratives,  the 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        17 

former  to  a  larger,  the  latter  to  a  lesser,  ex- 
tent. Though  the  measure  of  influences  is, 
according  to  both,  less  than  has  formerly- 
been  asserted,  for  example,  by  Seydel,  this 
small  influence  becomes  still  less  from  the 
fact  that  the  one  considers  as  doubtful  what 
the  other  accepts  as  probable;  and  such  an 
expert  in  this  field  as  Hermann  Oldenberg, 
in  a  review  of  Van  den  Bergh's  book  (Theol. 
Literaturzeitung,  1905,  No.  3),  expressed 
some  further  doubts  even  on  those  points 
on  which  both  are  agreed.  At  any  rate,  the 
question  has  been  treated  in  these  two  new- 
est writings  with  such  learning  and  impar- 
tiality that  their  results  form  a  safe  basis  for 
further  inquiry. 

In  examining  the  question  there  is  one  dif- 
ficulty, namely,  that  there  is  scarcely  a 
scholar  who  is  at  home  alike  in  both  depart- 
ments, the  Buddhist  literature  and  New 
Testament  theology.  But  Seydel  (1882,  p. 
5)  has  rightly  pointed  out  the  danger  that,  in 
the  present  specialization  of  sciences,  compre- 
hensive and  comparative  works  are  in  dan- 
ger of  being  entirely  left  undone,  unless 
those  undertake  them  who  are  not  special- 
ists; and  Oldenberg  (Theol.  Literaturzeit- 


1 8       New  Testament  Parallels 

ung,  1905,  No.  3),  in  the  case  of  the  bor- 
rowing problems,  wishes  to  leave  the  de- 
cision to  the  specialists  in  religion,  as  to 
which  religion  would  be  the  borrowing  one, 
since  it  must  be  determined  whether  the 
questionable  phenomenon  can  be  sufficiently 
explained  without  borrowing,  or  whether  the 
thought  and  form  of  these  phenomena  give 
weight  to  the  opinion  that  foreign  elements 
were  admixed. 

When  Seydel  laid  it  down  as  a  critical 
axiom,  "Agreement  awakens  the  thought  of 
borrowing  when  the  common  trail  seems  in- 
explicable on  one  of  two  sides,  while  it  seems 
entirely  proper  on  the  other,'*  and,  "Seem- 
ingly accidental  agreement  of  unimportant 
events  and  its  frequent  occurrence  have  great 
importance  for  the  question  of  borrowing," 
Van  den  Bergh,  while  acknowledging  these 
principles,  nevertheless,  points  out  that 
many  of  the  formerly  alleged  parallels  fail 
as  arguments,  because  they  can  be  explained 
either  from  the  identity  of  circumstances  un- 
der which  they  mutually  originated,  or  from 
the  same  phase  of  religious  development  of 
Christianity  and  Buddhism ;  yea,  sometimes 
even  from  ordinary  human  reasons,  so  that 


In  Buddhistic  Literature         19 

without  doubt  many  agreements  in  the  life 
of  Jesus  and  Buddha  can  be  ascribed  to  the 
Hke  spiritual  sphere  in  which  both  appeared. 

Van  den  Bergh  is  surprised  at  the  agree- 
ment of  the  following  New  Testament  nar- 
ratives with  Indian  legends:  Simeon  in  the 
temple,  the  boy  Jesus  at  the  age  of  twelve, 
the  baptism  of  Jesus,  the  temptation,  the 
beatitude  of  the  mother  of  Jesus,  the  widow's 
mite,  the  walking  on  the  sea,  the  Samaritan 
woman  at  the  well,  and  the  universal  confla- 
gration. Doubtful,  however,  seems  to  him 
the  agreement  or  similarity  in  these  narra- 
tives :  the  annunciation,  the  choice  of  the  dis- 
ciples, Nathanael,  the  prodigal  son,  the  man 
born  blind,  and  the  transfiguration. 

Pfleiderer  arranges  differently  by  putting 
the  Christ-picture  of  the  primitive  faith  in 
religio-historical  illustration,  as  his  plan  re- 
quires, and,  accordingly,  considers  Christ  as 
the  Son  of  God,  as  Conqueror  of  Satan,  as 
Miracle-Saviour,  as  Conqueror  over  Death, 
and  Life  Mediator,  and  as  King  of  Kings. 
Besides  other  like  heathenish  notions,  he 
quotes  the  Buddhist  parallels,  and  shows 
how  much  they  have  influenced  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Christ-picture. 


20       New  Testament  Parallels 

II 

While  Buddhist  influence  upon  the  forma- 
tion of  the  history  of  the  infancy  of  Jesus 
might  seem  more  credible,  his  later  life,  down 
to  his  suffering  and  death  on  the  cross,  of- 
fers fewer  parallels  to  the  life  of  Buddha. 
The  history  of  the  infancy,  as  the  Gospel  of 
Mark  shows,  belonged  not  to  the  original 
evangelical  preaching.  Saint  John's  Gospel 
also  does  not  mention  it.  In  the  apostolic 
epistles  it  entirely  recedes.  Thus  the  tradi- 
tion for  this  part  of  the  life  of  Jesus  seems 
to  have  been  exposed  in  a  larger  degree  to 
foreign  influences  than  the  time  of  his  pub- 
lic ministry  and  suffering  of  which  his  disci- 
ples were  witnesses. 

The  main  source  for  the  history  of  the 
birth  and  infancy  of  Buddha  to  his  first 
preaching  in  Benares  is  the  Lalita-Vistara. 
Foucaux,  who,  in  the  Annales  du  Musee 
Guimet,  tome  vi,  Paris,  1834,  gave  a  French 
translation  of  the  Lalita-Vistara,  translates 
the  words  by  "developpement  des  jeux," 
more  accurately  "completely  described  ac- 
tion," "the  book  of  changes."  In  a  Chinese 
translation  it  is  called  "The  holy  book  of  the 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        21 

acts  of  Buddha."  Seydel  puts  its  origin 
between  A.  D.  10  and  45.  The  Chinese 
translation  (A.  D.  6y)  is  based  upon  an 
'"enlarged"  form  of  the  book.  Whereas  the 
original  form  closes  with  the  first  sermon  of 
Buddha  in  Benares,  the  latter  adds  a  few 
diapters  on  the  end  of  his  life. 

In  a  detailed  manner  Lalita-Vistara 
speaks  of  the  preparation  in  heaven  for  the 
birth  of  Buddha  (Foucaux,  p.  74  sqq),. 
The  family  which  is  to  be  found  worthy  that 
Bodhisattva,  the  future  Buddha,  should  be- 
long to,  must  have  sixty-four  distinguishing 
features,  and  the  woman  who  is  to  bear  him 
must  have  thirty-two  more  in  addition,  all 
of  which  are  mentioned.  Before  Bodhisattva 
leaves  heaven,  he  assembles  the  hundred 
thousand  gods  and  sons  of  gods  who  bow 
before  him  in  adoration,  and  whom  he  in- 
structs concerning  the  one  hundred  and 
eight  shining  gates  of  the  law.  The  sons  of 
the  gods  ask  him  not  to  leave  heaven,  which 
would  lose  its  splendor  after  his  departure; 
but  he  takes  the  tiara  from  his  head  and  puts 
it  on  Maitreya,  his  successor,  who  after  him 
is  to  be  Buddha.  In  the  meantime  Queen 
Maya,    surrounded    by    all    splendor    and 


22       New  Testament  Parallels 

riches,  flowers  and  birds,  adorned  with  the 
most  beautiful  festive  dresses  and  jewels, 
prepared  herself  by  fasting  to  give  birth  to 
Buddha.  According  to  one  tradition,  a  ray 
of  light  entered  into  the  body  of  Maya ;  ac- 
cording to  another,  a  small  white  elephant. 
To  her  husband,  King  Suddhodana,  the 
event  is  announced  by  spirits  flying  in  the 
air  saying :  "Girded  with  righteousness  and 
tender  mercy,  adored  on  earth  and  in  the 
splendid  heaven,  the  coming  Buddha  leaves 
the  glorious  spheres  and  comes  down  to  earth 
to  be  bom  of  sweet  Maya."  When,  after  ten 
months,  the  hour  comes  for  Maya  she  asks 
the  king  for  permission  to  go  to  the  pleasure 
garden  Loumbini  in  Kapilavastu.  The  king 
orders  twenty  thousand  elephants  adorned 
with  gold  and  pearls,  twenty  thousand 
horses,  white  as  snow  and  silver,  and 
twenty  thousand  warriors  to  accompany  her. 
One  hundred  thousand  bells  ring  when  she 
alone  ascends  the  most  beautiful  traveling 
carriage.  Sixty  thousand  women,  protected 
by  forty  thousand  men  of  their  tribe,  go  be- 
fore her.  Arrived  at  the  garden  Loumbini, 
she  seats  herself  under  the  most  beautiful  of 
all  trees,  whose  branches  bow  in  salutation. 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        23 

In  that  moment  Buddha  leaves  her  bosom  by 
the  right  side.  The  deities  of  the  four  regions 
of  the  heavens  receive  him ;  several  hundred 
thousand  deities  bathe  him;  he,  however, 
sitting  on  a  big  lotus,  looks  around  toward 
the  ten  points  of  the  universe  with  the  look 
of  a  lion,  with  the  look  of  a  big  man,  and 
with  a  loud  voice  proclaims  his  preeminence 
over  all  gods,  and  the  coming  redemption. 
Five  days  after  the  birth  the  Brahmans  of 
the  city  meet  and,  in  accordance  with  a  su- 
pernatural command,  the  boy  is  called  "Sid- 
dharta,"  that  is,  "He  who  is  successful  in  all 
things."  On  the  seventh  day  after  his  birth 
his  mother  dies,  and  her  sister,  a  concubine 
of  the  king,  acts  as  his  mother. 

The  discrepancy  between  the  history  of 
the  birth  of  Buddha  and  Jesus  is  great.  Stix, 
indeed,  calls  attention  to  the  fact,  that  here 
as  w^ell  as  there,  the  birth  of  a  child  con- 
ceived by  a  holy  spirit  is  announced  by  an- 
gels, and  that  Jesus,  like  Buddha,  belongs  to 
a  royal  house ;  but  Seydel  begins  his  chapter 
"Bethlehem"  w^ith  the  sentence,  "We  must 
not  only  point  out  parallels,  but  also  con- 
trasts," yet  he  remarks  that  the  birthplace  of 
Buddha,  Kapilavastu,  at  the  council  held  in 


24       New  Testament  Parallels 

the  Tushita-heaven  concerning  the  place  of 
the  birth,  was  praised  because  built,  in  re- 
membrance of  the  penitent  Kapila,  as  "the 
great  city  of  the  beings  which  planted  the 
roots  of  salvation."  Van  den  Bergh  will 
not  explain  on  the  ground  of  borrowing  the 
similarity  of  an  announcement  of  the  birth 
of  Jesus  to  Mary  (Luke  i.  29-33)  and  the 
interpretation  of  a  dream  of  the  mother  of 
Buddha  as  referring  to  the  birth  of  a  won- 
derful child;  but  he  quotes,  though  only  as 
a  single,  concrete  expression,  which  might 
excite  the  thought  of  a  borrowing,  that  in 
the  Thibetan  redaction  of  Lalita-Vistara, 
the  remark  of  the  Brahmans,  "Here  is  no 
misfortune  for  the  family,"  answers  to  the 
biblical  words  of  the  angel  to  Mary,  "Fear 
not,  Mary,"  yet  he  would  not  ascribe  any 
importance  to  such  a  coincidence. 

But  special  Importance  is  attached  to  the 
agreement  of  the  history  of  Simeon  in  the 
temple  with  the  visit  of  Asita  in  the  royal 
palace  (Lalita-Vistara,  by  Foucaux,  pp.  91- 
loi).  Asita,  an  ascetic,  who  had  obtained 
the  eight  magic  qualifications  which  enabled 
him  to  visit  the  heavens,  learns  there  that  in 
the  world  a  mighty  Buddha  has  been  born. 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        25 

Surveying  the  world  with  his  divine  eye,  he 
fixes  his  gaze  upon  the  kingdom  of  India, 
and,  in  the  great  city  of  Kapilavastu,  he  be- 
holds, in  the  palace  of  King  Suddhodana,  the 
child  in  the  light  of  the  bright  splendor  of 
pure  deeds,  and  worshiped  by  all  the  world, 
while  a  host  of  heavenly  spirits  sings  the 
praise  of  Buddha.  By  means  of  his  power 
he  comes  down  to  Kapilavastu.  Having  ar- 
rived in  the  royal  palace,  he  says :  "Rajah, 
a  son  is  born  unto  thee.  I  wish  to  see  him." 
The  prince,  richly  dressed,  was  brought  by 
the  order  of  the  king  to  do  honor  to  the 
Brahman ;  he,  however,  rose  from  the  throne 
on  which  he  sat  and  with  hands  folded  over 
his  head  he  bowed  before  the  chosen  Buddha. 
The  king  likewise  bowed  before  his  son. 
Asita  quotes  thirty-two  bodily  signs  and 
eighty-four  signs  of  a  secondary  kind, 
which  characterize  the  boy  as  the  future 
great  man.  Suddenly  the  ascetic  began  to 
cry.  The  king's  people  ask,  surprised: 
"Does  some  misfortune  hang  over  the  child 
of  our  ruler?"  He  answered:  "Over  him 
hangs  no  misfortune;  he  is  destined  to  be- 
come the  Buddha."  "But  why  dost  thou 
weep?"    "Because  I  am  old  and  frail,  and 


26       New  Testament  Parallels 

shall  not  live  to  see  the  glory  of  his  Bud- 
dhastys;  therefore,  I  weep."  Stix  says: 
"The  similarity  of  the  narratives  is  simply 
bewildering."  But  the  diversity  consists 
not  only  in  the  local  coloring  of  India  and 
Israel,  but  also  in  the  modes  of  thought  of 
Asita,  who  weeps  because  he  shall  not  live 
to  see  the  reign  of  Buddha,  and  of  Simeon, 
who  thanks  God  that  his  eyes  have  seen  the 
Saviour.  What  is  more  natural  than  that 
the  old  time  and  the  new  meet  in  an  old  man, 
and  be  represented  in  the  newly  born  child  ? 
What  more  human  than  that  the  old  man 
should  take  the  child  in  his  arms  ?  Of  Van 
den  Bergh's  distrust  of  the  biblical  narra- 
tive, which  without  positive  Old  Testament 
command  has  the  child  Jesus  brought  to  the 
temple  in  order  to  thus  bring  about  the  meet- 
ing with  Simeon,  O.  Wenberg  says  (Theol. 
Literaturzeitung,  1905,  No.  3)  that  he  makes 
the  poetry  of  the  old  narrative  subordinate 
to  the  prose  of  little  faith. 

Stix  quotes  a  parallel  to  the  infanticide  at 
Bethlehem,  but  only  according  to  the  late 
Abhinishkramana-Sutra,  which  Beal  trans- 
lated from  a  Chinese  version  of  the  sixth 
century  after  Christ,  under  the  title  of  The 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        27 

Romantic  Legend  of  Sakya  Buddha.  King 
Bimbisara  is  informed  of  the  birth  of  a  boy 
of  whom  the  Brahmans  predicted  that  he 
would  either  be  a  mighty  ruler  or  a  Buddha. 
Being  advised  to  send  an  army  to  destroy 
the  child,  Bimbisara  rejoins :  "Do  not  speak 
thus ;  if  the  child  shall  be  a  Chakravati  Raja 
[mighty  ruler],  he  will  wield  a  righteous 
scepter  and  we  must  obey  him ;  but,  in  case 
he  becomes  the  powerful  Buddha,  whose  love 
and  mercy  may  redeem  all  men,  we  must  be- 
come his  disciples."  Herod  and  Bimbisara 
bear  little  likeness  to  one  another.  Seydel 
also  says  (p.  143)  :  "Real  parallels  to  the 
infanticide  at  Bethlehem  we  do  not  find  in 
Buddhism." 

As  the  history  of  the  infancy  of  Jesus  also 
includes  the  account  of  Jesus  when  twelve 
years  old  among  the  scribes  in  the  temple, 
it  is  also  reported  of  Buddha  that  he  was 
more  learned  than  his  teacher.  Lalita-Vis- 
tara  narrates  (Foucaux,  pp.  106-109)  :  Sixty 
thousand  young  girls,  born  in  the  same  night 
with  Buddha,  were  given  him  for  company 
and  service.  The  elders  of  the  Sakya  family 
declared  that  it  was  necessary  that  the  young 
prince  be  brought  to  the  temple  of  the  gods. 


28       New  Testament  Parallels 

The  king  desired  that  all  streets  of  the  city 
through  which  the  chariot  was  to  pass  should 
be  decorated.  All  that  were  getting  ill-luck 
— the  lame,  hunchback,  deaf,  blind,  dumb, 
deformed — were  removed.  The  Brahmans 
were  to  pray;  all  bells  were  to  toll.  When 
the  young  prince  was  dressed  he  asked  his 
foster  mother,  Maha  Pradjapati  Gautamis- 
ma,  without  quivering  his  eyelids,  in  the 
kindest  manner:  "Mother,  whither  are  they 
going  to  take  me?''  She  replied:  "To  the 
temple  of  god,  my  son."  The  young  prince 
smiled  and  said:  "When  I  was  born  the 
three  thousand  worlds  were  shaken,  and  the 
high  gods  bowed  their  heads  to  my  feet. 
Which  other  god  is  greater  than  I,  that  thou 
bringest  me  to  him?  I  am  god  over  all 
gods;  no  god  is  like  unto  me;  how  shall 
there  be  one  over  me  ?  But  to  accommodate 
myself  to  the  custom  of  the  work,  I  will  go, 
O  mother.  When  they  shall  see  my  super- 
natural change,  the  transported  multitude 
will  surround  me  with  honors;  gods  and 
men  will  unite  and  say,  *He  is  god  through 
himself.'  "  Bodhisattva  had  hardly  entered 
the  temple  when  the  images  of  the  gods  Civa, 
Skanda,  Brahma,  and  the  other  gods,  rose 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        29 

from  their  places  and  fell  down  at  his  feet, 
and  gods  and  people  to  the  number  of 
one  hundred  thousand,  filled  the  city  with 
the  cry  of  admiration  and  joy.  Flowers 
rained  from  heaven,  one  hundred  thousand 
musical  instruments  were  heard  without 
being  troubled,  and  all  gods  praised 
Buddha. 

Lalita-Vistara  also  speaks  of  the  wisdom 
of  the  child  (pp.  11 3-1 17).  Surrounded  by 
ten  thousand  infants,  accompanied  by  ten 
thousand  carts  filled  with  victuals,  gold,  and 
silver,  at  the  sound  of  eight  hundred  thou- 
sand musical  instruments,  under  a  shower 
of  flowers,  in  company  of  eight  thousand 
daughters  of  the  gods  as  lookers-on,  Bod- 
hisattva  enters  the  writing  hall.  The 
teacher  cannot  bear  the  splendor  and  the 
majesty  and  falls  down  before  him.  Bodhi- 
sattva  asks  the  teacher  which  of  the  twenty- 
four  alphabets,  which  he  mentions  by  name, 
he  is  to  teach  him.  When  the  many  thou- 
sand children  who  had  come  with  him  were 
to  learn  the  letters,  they  are  perfectly  able  to 
do  so  by  means  of  the  blessing  of  the  pres- 
ence of  Buddha,  who  had  only  gone  to  the 
school  for  that  purpose,  and  used  the  oppor- 


30       New  Testament  Parallels 

tunity  to  propound  at  each  letter  one  of  the 
holy  teachings  of  his  law. 

Once  also  Bodhisattva  was  missed.  Ac- 
cording to  the  introduction  to  the  Ishatak- 
kasi,  which  comprise  the  tales  of  his  forms 
of  existence  before  his  earthly  birth,  his  dis- 
appearance happened  on  a  festival,  at  the 
annual  plowing  of  the  king  with  a  golden 
plow.  Lalita-Vistara  narrates  (pp.  ii8- 
123)  :  One  day  the  young  prince  went  with 
sons  of  the  counselors  of  his  father  to  visit 
a  farmers'  village.  Having  seen  the  work, 
he  sat  alone  with  crossed  legs  under  a  tree. 
The  king  missed  him,  sought  him,  and  found 
him  absorbed  in  thought  in  the  shadow  of 
the  tree,  surrounded  by  five  saints,  shining 
from  the  light  of  his  majesty  like  the  moon 
in  the  midst  of  the  stars.  And  he  said  to 
his  father:  "Let  alone  the  plowing,  my 
father,  and  seek  higher  things.  If  you  need 
money,  I  will  let  it  rain  down;  clothes,  I 
give  them  to  thee;  and  whatever  else  you 
need  I  will  let  it  rain  down."  He  then  re- 
turns, but  in  his  mind  he  planned  to  leave 
the  paternal  home. 

It  is  obvious  that  there  are  analogies  be- 
tween the  history  of  the  birth  and  infancy  of 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        31 

Buddha  and  Jesus,  but  they  have  their  origin 
not  in  borrowing,  which  has  thus  far  not 
been  proven  in  Hterature  from  any  of  the 
bibhcal  histories  adduced  above,  but  in  the 
agreement  of  Buddhist  and  Christian  beHef 
in  the  supernatural  birth  of  a  Holy  Child. 
Faith  could  not  imagine  this  to  have  oc- 
curred otherwise  than  by  being  surrounded 
by  extraordinary  events  and  heavenly  phe- 
nomena, and  hence  they  are  found  here  as 
w^ell  as  there,  partly  agreeing,  partly  differ- 
ing, conditioned  by  the  similarity  in  the 
world  of  conception  and  by  the  diversity  in 
popular  manner  of  representation.  Pfleid- 
erer,  therefore,  rightly  discards  entirely  the 
small  similarities  in  the  narratives,  over 
against  which  stand  a  much  larger  number 
of  dissimilarities,  which  are  not  mentioned, 
and  only  emphasizes  the  great  common 
thought  of  both  religions:  the  belief  in  the 
supernatural  birth  of  both  founders  and  be- 
lief in  the  incarnation  of  Divinity.  The  no- 
tion of  sons  of  gods  is  certainly  largely  dif- 
fused in  heathenism;  we  also  find  striking 
parallels  in  heathenish  legends  to  the  virgin 
birth;  but  by  that  the  generally  human  be- 
lief in  the  revelation  of  God  in  the  human 


32       New  Testament  Parallels 

world  is  only  attested.  The  assumption  that 
the  belief  in  the  virgin  birth  of  Jesus  was 
taken  from  heathenish  ideas  at  a  time  when 
the  Gospels  of  Matthew  and  Luke  originated 
is  opposed,  as  Harnack  also  admits,  by  the 
entire  and  oldest  tradition  of  Christendom. 
Pfleiderer,  however,  finds  also  an  agreement 
in  this:  that,  according  to  the  Buddha 
legend,  the  standing  designation  for  the 
heavenly  essence  of  Buddha,  presupposed 
for  the  separate  incarnations,  is  "man,  noble 
man,  great  man,  victorious  lord,"  just  as, 
according  to  the  Jewish  apocalyptic  notion, 
the  preexistent  Messiah  is  called  "Son  of 
man,"  or  "man,"  "second  man  from  heaven" 
by  Paul ;  "Son  of  man"  in  the  Gospels.  The 
Gnostic  doctrine  of  the  different  incarna- 
tions of  the  heavenly  spirits  in  Adam,  the 
patriarchs  and  Jesus  has  also  such  a  striking 
relationship  with  the  Indian  doctrine  that  a 
direct  connection  can  hardly  be  doubted. 
But  just  here  the  Buddhist  and  Christian 
ideas  separate.  According  to  the  latter 
God  becomes  man  in  Christ;  according  to 
the  former  Buddha  is  from  his  very  birth  a 
man — though  a  perfect  one — but  no  divine 
being;  at  any  rate,  not  God  in  the  highest 


In  Buddhistic  Literature         33 

sense  of  the  word,  for  which  Buddhism  in 
general  has  no  room.  Thus,  instead  of  a 
similarity  we  get  an  essential  diversity, 
which  is  covered  only  by  small,  seeming,  ex- 
ternal similarities. 

A  second  group  of  parallels  Pfleiderer 
comprises  under  the  head  of  "Christ  as  Con- 
queror of  Satan.''  The  baptism  of  Jesus  as 
the  consecration  for  his  prophetical  office 
and  struggle  could  here  also  find  a  place  ac- 
cording to  Van  den  Bergh,  who  sees  in  it 
some  reminiscence  of  Buddhist  tradition, 
not,  indeed,  according  to  the  biblical  descrip- 
tion, but  according  to  that  of  the  apocryphal 
Gospel  of  the  Hebrews.  According  to  this 
the  members  of  the  family  of  Jesus  advise 
him  to  be  baptized,  whereas  he  considers 
this  as  unnecessary.  This  trait  in  the  Gos- 
pel of  the  Hebrews  Van  den  Bergh  con- 
siders as  older,  more  authentic  than  the  bib- 
lical statement,  because  it  makes  for  a  more 
natural  canception  of  the  person  of  Jesus,  a 
more  naive  form  of  the  gospel  statement  and 
the  behavior  of  his  relatives.  It  also  an- 
swers to  the  visit  of  Bodhisattva  to  the  tem- 
ple, mentioned  above,  in  conforming  to  the 
usage  of  the  world.     As  he  considered  the 


34       New  Testament  Parallels 

walk  to  the  temple  unnecessary,  so  Jesus 
the  walk  to  the  Jordan,  and  both  comply 
with  the  wish  of  the  relatives,  only  the  evan- 
gelist turned  the  refusal  of  Jesus  into  a  re- 
fusal of  John  the  Baptist.  But  there  is  little 
similarity  between  the  proud  question  of 
Bodhisattva  and  the  humble  demeanor  of 
Jesus  at  his  baptism,  and  the  original  re- 
fusal of  John  the  Baptist  to  baptize  Jesus 
has  its  cause  in  his  admiration  for  the  purity 
of  Jesus. 

The  parallel  to  the  temptation  of  Jesus 
seems  to  be  better  grounded  and,  possibly, 
shows  a  borrowing.  Lalita-Vistara  (pp. 
257-286)  narrates :  Mara,  the  evil  one,  saw 
in  a  dream  thirty-six  terrible  faces,  which 
threatened  him  and  his  kingdom.  He  calls 
his  army  against  the  man  who  sits  under 
the  tree.  The  demons  advise  him  to  desist 
from  his  further  struggle;  but  he  gathers 
around  him  numberless  deformed  beings, 
who  with  their  missiles,  trunks  of  trees  and 
mountains,  adorned  with  garlands  of  roses 
consisting  of  skulls  and  chopped  fingers, 
should  frighten  Bodhisattva.  But  when  he 
shakes  his  head,  like  a  lotus  of  a  hundred 
leaves,  Mara  flees,  and  the  missiles  which  his 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        35 

army  had  darted  against  him  are  turned  into 
flowers.  But  Mara  does  not  give  up,  and 
says  to  his  daughters:  "Go  and  win  Bod- 
hisattva ;  see  whether  he  is  not  susceptible  of 
love."  In  thirty-two  ways,  which  are  de- 
scribed in  the  most  sensual  manner,  they 
show  him  by  uncovering  and  covering  the 
magic  power  of  woman ;  they  apply  all  arts 
of  seduction,  but  in  vain.  The  eight  deities 
of  the  Bodhi-tree  praise  Bodhisattva  and 
deride  Mara.  The  evil  one  displays  for  a 
third  time  his  powers,  but  Bodhisattva  softly 
touches  the  earth  with  his  hand,  and  before 
its  sound,  which  is  like  brass,  the  tempter 
departs. 

Differently  is  the  history  of  the  tempta- 
tion given  by  Little  (Buddhism  in  Christen- 
dom) :  Mara,  the  evil  one,  suddenly  appears 
in  the  air  and  calls  to  Buddha :  "Lead  not  the 
life  of  a  Jogi.  In  seven  days  thou  shalt  be 
lord  of  the  world."  But  Buddha  strenu- 
ously refused;  though,  through  the  magic 
influence  of  the  evil  one,  he  felt  a  strong  de- 
sire to  visit  once  again  the  city  of  his  father, 
he  struggled  against  this  desire,  when,  by 
a  powerful  work  of  the  seducer,  the  earth 
suddenly  turned  like  a  potter's  wheel.    The 


36        New  Testament  Parallels 

sad  eyes  of  Buddha  now  beheld  the  high 
towers  and  brilliant  lights  of  the  great  city, 
which  in  the  moonlight  lay  before  him  in 
sleep.  The  holy  man  hesitated,  yet  resisted 
the  tempter  and  made  his  way  to  Vaisali. 
Here  lived  a  holy  man,  Arata  Kalama. 
Buddha  said  to  him :  "Arata  Kalama,  thou 
must  initiate  me  how  to  seek  after  Brahma." 
With  crossed  legs  Buddha  spent  six  years, 
and  sought  to  obtain  the  visions  of  the 
higher  Buddhism  and  the  magic  powers. 
Having  fasted  forty-seven  days  and  nights, 
without  having  tasted  anything,  Mara  ap- 
peared before  him  to  tempt  him  a  second 
time.  "Sweet  creature,"  said  the  tempter, 
"the  hour  of  thy  death  is  at  hand ;  sacrifice, 
and  eat  a  part  thereof  to  save  thy  life." 
Buddha  replied:  "Death  is  the  unavoidable 
end  of  life.  Why  should  I  try  to  avoid 
death.  He  that  falls  in  battle  is  noble.  He 
who  is  overcome  is  as  good  as  dead.  Demon, 
I  shall  soon  triumph  over  thee." 

Van  den  Bergh  admits  that  the  similarity 
in  the  temptation  of  Buddha  and  Jesus  does 
not  refer  to  the  promises  of  Satan,  but  only 
to  the  outer  circumstances,  as  it  were,  to  the 
frame  of  the  history.    But  with  Seydel,  he 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        37 

calls  attention  to  one  word  which  he  con- 
siders important.  Buddha  once  said  of  him- 
self:  *'Lions  and  tigers  I  attracted  through 
the  power  of  friendship.  Surrounded  by 
lions,  tigers,  panthers,  bears,  and  buffaloes, 
antelopes,  gazelles,  and  boars,  I  dwelt  in  the 
forest,''  and,  according  to  another  record  of 
the  temptation  of  Buddha,  the  beasts  came 
to  do  homage  to  the  victor.  Now,  Matthew 
closes  his  detailed  statement  on  the  tempta- 
tion of  Jesus  with  the  words:  "Then  the 
devil  leaveth  him,  and,  behold,  angels  came 
and  ministered  unto  him."  Mark,  however, 
condenses  the  whole  narrative  and  says: 
"And  immediately  the  spirit  driveth  him  into 
the  wilderness.  And  he  was  there  in  the 
wilderness  forty  days  tempted  of  Satan ;  and 
was  with  the  wild  beasts;  and  the  angels 
ministered  unto  him."  This  phrase,  "and 
was  with  beasts,"  Van  den  Bergh  finds  so 
unwarranted  by  the  biblical  history  that  it 
can  only  be  a  reminiscence  from  the  tempta- 
tion of  Buddha.  But  says  Oldenberg  (Theol. 
Literaturzeitung) ,  who  corrects  the  quo- 
tation, accurately  speaking:  "Those  words, 
that  he  attracted  lions,  tigers,  and  other 
beasts  by  the  magic  power  of  friendship  and 


38       New  Testament  Parallels 

lived  with  them  in  the  forest,  according  to 
the  Kariga-Pithaka,  are  not  spoken  of  Bud- 
dha, but  of  a  black  steer,  which  represented 
a  previous  form  of  existence  of  Buddha  in 
the  course  of  metamorphosis.  By  Mark,  the 
addition,  "and  he  was  with  wild  beasts,"  is 
only  to  be  understood  as  an  amplification  of 
the  words,  "and  he  was  in  the  wilderness." 
There  the  word  of  Oldenberg  applies :  "Phil- 
ological sagacity  should  not  prevent  us  from 
taking  the  simple  simply."  Seydel  finds  the 
fasting  strange  in  the  history  of  the  tempta- 
tion of  Jesus,  whereas  it  is  natural,  unavoid- 
able with  Buddha,  required  by  his  Brah- 
manic  cult.  Therefore  it  must  have  been 
transferred  from  Buddha  to  Jesus.  But  the 
fasting  of  Jesus  is  most  naturally  connected 
with  his  abode  in  the  wilderness,  whereas  the 
renunciation  and  world-contempt  of  Buddha, 
even  after  he  recognized  the  folly  of  fasting, 
becomes  nauseous;  he  covers  himself  with 
the  exhumed  rags  of  a  dead  beggar. 

It  is  certain  that  in  the  temptation — ^liis- 
tories  of  Buddha  and  Jesus  analogies  are  not 
wanting.  Both  are  preceded  by  a  glorifica- 
tion: Buddha  under  the  Bodhi-tree,  Jesus 
at  the  baptism  in  the  Jordan.    The  tempta- 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        39 

tion  takes  place  in  the  desert.  Hunger,  as 
the  outcome  of  long  fasting,  offers  to  the 
tempter  a  point  of  attack.  The  devil  retires 
unsuccessful ;  he  waits  for  a  more  favorable 
time.  To  the  victor  homage  is  rendered. 
Should  Bodhisattva  become  a  perfect  Bud- 
dha, he  had  to  pass  through  temptation  in 
order  to  prove  it.  That  Jesus  was  tempted 
to  make  a  selfish  use  of  his  miraculous  pow- 
ers, to  obtain  followers  by  a  miracle  display, 
yea,  to  gain  the  world  by  even  a  seeming 
homage  to  the  evil  one,  all  this  he  stated 
clearly  in  the  history  of  the  temptation 
which  he  gave  to  his  disciples.  That  such 
a  temptation  could  be  experienced  after  mo- 
ments of  exaltation;  that  it  takes  place  in 
solitude;  that  it  comes  about  when  a  special 
peril  of  attack  is  offered ;  that  the  temptation 
when  passed  is  followed  by  a  feeling  of  ele- 
vation, victory,  and  strengthening— all  this 
lies  in  the  nature  of  the  occurrence;  so  that 
here  also  the  similarity  of  some  details  in  the 
temptations,  which  greatly  differ  in  other 
respects,  can  be  explained  on  other  grounds 
than  similar  circumstances. 

Beatitudes,  which  form  the  introduction 
to  Jesus'  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (Matt.  5. 


40       New  Testament  Parallels 

i-io),  Buddha  also  spoke  under  the  Bodhi- 
tree :  "Whoever  hears  the  law,  whoever  be- 
comes a  seer,  whoever  is  pleased  in  the  soli- 
tude, is  happy."  "He  who  dwelling  in  the 
midst  of  living  creatures  yet  does  no  evil, 
he  is  happy  in  the  world.  He  who  can  rise 
above  vice,  be  free  from  passions,  he  is 
happy  in  the  world.  He  who  has  overcome 
selfishness  and  pride  has  obtained  the  high- 
est happiness"  (Rgya  355).  Even  if  one 
translates  for  "happy"  "blessed,"  and  puts 
the  word  at  the  beginning  of  the  sentence, 
the  like  form  of  the  Beatitudes,  in  spite 
of  some  similarities,  can  by  no  means  de- 
ceive us  as  to  the  different  keynotes  and 
hopes  of  the  Buddhist  and  the  Christian. 

In  the  miracle  narratives  Seydel  sees  the 
similarity  not  in  the  miracles  themselves  but 
in  the  attitude  of  both  miracle-workers  to- 
ward those  who  ask  miracles ;  yet  he  admits 
this  difference:  that  Christianity  puts  the 
miracle  in  the  service  of  moral  doing,  where- 
as in  Buddhism  the  miracle  is  the  principal 
thing.  Van  den  Bergh  finds  in  Buddhist 
legend  only  one  parallel  to  the  miracles  of 
Jesus;  it  concerns  the  walking  of  Jesus  on 
the  sea,  who  reaches  his  saving  hand  to 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        41 

sinking  Peter  (Matt.  14.  25-33).  ^^^  ^^^ 
Bergh  finds  so  many  contradictions  in  this 
story  that  it  appears  to  him  to  be  inaptly 
wrought  together  from  different  sources; 
whereas  the  Buddhist  stor}^,  which  speaks  of 
a  lay  brother  who,  absorbed  in  ecstatic  medi- 
tation on  Buddha,  goes  into  the  river,  in  the 
midst  of  which,  perceiving  the  water,  begins 
to  sink,  but  by  a  renewed  ecstasy  safely 
comes  to  the  other  side,  causes  Van  den 
Bergh  no  surprise,  since  in  India  the  miracu- 
lous power  is  actually  associated  with  the 
power  of  faith ;  so  that  the  "Peter  anecdote," 
"though,  of  course,  not  directly,"  is  bor- 
rowed, according  to  him,  from  a  Hindu 
range  of  thought.  Moreover,  the  story  of 
that  ecstatic  lay  brother  is  found  in  the  in- 
troduction to  one  of  the  Dshatakas,  popular 
stories  which  at  a  later  period  only  received 
a  Buddhist  retouch.  Concerning  the  miracle 
powers  of  both,  Pfleiderer  points  out  that,  in 
the  Buddhist  legend,  as  well  as  in  the  Gos- 
pels, miracles  of  knowledge  play  an  impor- 
tant part;  for  Buddha  knows  not  only  his 
own  life  before  his  birth  but  perceives  also 
the  thoughts  of  others.  He  also  refers  to 
some  miracles  of  healing  by  Buddha,  but  the 


42       New  Testament  Parallels 

similarity  is  limited  to  possession  of  miracu- 
lous power,  without  agreement  of  special  in- 
stances, so  that  a  borrowing  is  not  here 
asserted. 

Seydel  assigns  as  a  parallel  of  the  highest 
order  the  agreement  of  the  beatification  of 
the  mother  of  Jesus  in  the  woman's  ex- 
clamation (Luke  II.  27),  '^Blessed  is  the 
womb  that  bare  thee,  and  the  paps  which 
thou  hast  sucked,"  with  the  exclamation  of 
a  noble  virgin  who  is  charmed  with  Bud- 
dha's beauty  and  majesty : 

The  mother  is  indeed  blessed, 
The  father  is  indeed  blessed, 
The  wife  is  indeed  blessed 
Who  has  such  a  husband. 

Van  den  Bergh  also  regards  as  so  impor- 
tant the  agreement  of  this  Buddhist  narra- 
tive in  the  Nidanakatha,  a  pre-Christian 
canonical  work  of  the  Southern  Buddhists, 
with  the  biblical  passage,  in  which  he  misses 
the  right  cause  for  the  exclamation  of  the 
woman,  and  in  which  he  finds  the  reply  of 
Jesus  uncalled  for :  "Yea,  rather,  blessed  are 
they  that  hear  the  word  of  God  and  keep  it," 
that  he  feels  justified  in  assuming  here  a 
Hindu  influence  upon  the  New  Testament 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        43 

passage.  But  the  temper  of  the  virgin  in 
her  castle  and  the  feeHng  of  the  woman  in 
the  crowd  are  entirely  different. 

For  the  conversation  of  Jesus  with  the 
Samaritan  women  at  the  well  (John  4), 
the  model  is  said  to  be  found  in  a  Buddhist 
narrative.  In  the  Dirya-vadana  (fol.  217  a), 
by  Bournouf,  Introduction  a  I'Histoire  du 
Buddhisme  Indien,  Paris,  1844,  it  is  said: 
Ananda,  the  most  familiar  disciple  of  Sa- 
kyamuni,  after  a  long  journey  meets  one 
day  a  young  Tshandala  girl,  who  draws 
water,  and  whom  he  asked  for  a  drink.  The 
girl,  fearing  to  defile  him  by  her  touch,  calls 
his  attention  to  the  fact  that  she  was  born 
in  the  race  of  the  Tshandala  and  that  she  is 
not  permitted  to  approach  a  monk.  But 
Ananda  answered:  "My  sister,  I  ask  thee 
not  as  to  thy  race,  nor  as  to  thy  family,  I 
ask  thee  only  to  give  me  some  water."  Ac- 
cording to  a  Chinese  redaction  of  this  story, 
the  girl  falls  in  love  with  Ananda;  the 
mother's  witchcraft  imperils  the  disciple,  but 
the  master  saves  him.  As  the  girl  continues 
to  persecute  the  disciple  with  her  love,  Bud- 
dha himself  promises  her  to  act  as  mediator 
on  condition  that  she  first  has  her  hair  cut 


44       New  Testament  Parallels 

off.  Then  she  is  converted  by  Buddha  and 
elevated  to  the  rank  of  an  Arhat,  a  perfect 
one. 

Van  den  Bergh  finds  the  Indian  story  well 
put  together,  whereas  the  corresponding 
biblical  narrative  seems  to  him  to  consist  of 
various  incoherent  traditions,  and  not  in 
conformity  to  the  relation  of  the  Jews  with 
the  Samaritans  in  the  time  of  Jesus.  But 
from  the  consideration  that  the  Buddhist 
narrative  refers  to  Ananda  and  not  to  Bud- 
dha, and  that  in  its  further  development  it 
has  no  similarity  whatever  to  the  biblical 
history,  the  fact  that  either  Ananda  or  Jesus 
after  a  hot  journey  should  ask  a  little  water 
of  a  woman  or  a  girl  drawing  water  is 
something  so  natural  that  there  is  no  suf- 
ficient reason  to  doubt  the  independence  of 
both  narratives. 

Van  den  Bergh  also  calls  attention  to  the 
similarity  in  the  story  of  the  widow's  mite 
(Mark  12.  41-44;  Luke  21.  1-4)  with  a 
story  in  a  Chinese  translation  of  the  Bud- 
dharsharita  by  Acraghosa,  who  lived  in  the 
first  century  after  Christ.  This  similarity 
seems  to  him  important  because  of  the  '*two 
mites,"  since  in  the  Buddhist  narrative  a 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        45 

widow  is  also  mentioned  who  offers  *'two" 
pieces  of  copper,  which  she  found  in  the 
dirt.  Her  petition  that  her  good  deed  may 
be  rewarded  is  fulfilled,  for  on  her  way 
home  she  meets  the  king  of  the  country, 
returning  from  the  funeral  of  his  wife, 
who  takes  her  for  his  wife.  The  thought 
that  the  poor  sometimes  offer  more  than  the 
rich  often  occurs  in  Buddhist  writings.  Thus 
a  poor  woman  fills  the  poor-box  of  Buddha 
with  a  handful  of  flowers,  which  rich  people 
would  not  fill  with  their  thousand  bushels. 
But  the  similarity  of  both  narratives  con- 
sists only  in  this :  that  a  poor  woman  in  both 
instances  offers  "two"  small  coins,  while  it 
is  not  yet  decided  whether  the  woman  of  the 
biblical  narrative  had  more  than  one  coin. 

Van  den  Bergh  attaches  special  impor- 
tance to  the  parallel  discovered  by  him  be- 
tween 2  Pet.  3,  and  a  passage  in  the  Nida- 
nakatta.  Both  speak  of  the  universal  con- 
flagration, the  destruction  of  this  world  by 
fire,  and  both  connect  the  imminent  destruc- 
tion of  the  world  with  the  admonition  to 
lead  a  moral  life.  Some  expressions,  for 
example,  the  address  "Beloved"  in  the  Epis- 
tle of  Peter,  and  "Friends"  in  the  Buddhist, 


46       New  Testament  Parallels 

and  the  announcement  that  the  elements 
"shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,"  read  almost 
alike  in  both  passages.  But  the  expectation 
of  a  destruction  of  the  world  by  fire  need 
not  have  been  transferred  from  an  Indian 
idea  to  the  New  Testament,  and  the  empha- 
sis of  the  similarity  in  the  address  shows 
how  even  meaningless  reminiscences  are 
hunted  up  and  emphasized. 

The  striking  parallel  instanced  by  Pfleid- 
erer  to  the  narrative  of  the  choice  of  dis- 
ciples by  Buddha  and  Jesus,  who  formerly 
belonged  to  other  masters,  Van  den  Bergh 
finds  of  too  little  consequence  to  attract  to 
it  the  thought  of  even  a  remote  relation. 

The  textual  change  in  the  history  of 
Nathanael  (John  i.  47-51)  introduced  by 
Seydel,  whereby  he  made  possible  the  identi- 
fication of  the  fig  tree  under  which  Nathan- 
ael was  when  Jesus  saw  him  with  the  Bodhi- 
tree  under  which  Buddha  received  the 
illumination,  Van  den  Bergh  explains  as 
very  hazardous. 

A  "prodigal  son"  (Luke  15.  11-19)  is 
also  mentioned  in  the  Saddharma  Pundari- 
ka-Sutra,  the  "white  lotus  of  the  good  law," 
a  Buddhist  writing,  rich  in  parables  belong- 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        47 

ing  to  the  second  Christian  century.  Where- 
as Wuttke  (Geschichte  des  Heidentums,  II, 
p.  522)  considers  the  narrative  derived  from 
Christian  sources.  Foucaux  considers  it  a 
very  important  proof  of  borrowing.  Seydel, 
however,  says:  "The  parable  has,  indeed, 
nothing  in  common  with  the  Christian  ex- 
cept that  a  son  who  had  emigrated  returns 
impoverished."  In  fact,  the  tendency  of 
both  stories  is  entirely  different.  In  the 
Buddhist  narrative  the  returned  son  does 
not  recognize  his  father  (who  in  the  mean- 
time had  become  rich),  and  is  made  to  do 
menial  labor,  tend  the  horses,  and  feed  the 
swine,  and  only  after  probation  is  made  heir, 
fifty  years  later,  at  the  death  of  the  father. 
But  the  biblical  narrative  shows  the  mercy 
of  the  father  and  puts  the  repentant  son 
over  against  the  self-righteous  brother. 
Nevertheless,  Van  den  Bergh  thinks  it  is 
not  impossible  that  Indian  material  has  been 
independently  worked  up  In  the  Gospel  and 
was  applied  in  illustration  of  a  truly  Chris- 
tian idea. 

The  narrative  of  the  healing  of  the  man 
that  was  born  blind  (John  9.  1-5),  which 
has  a  parallel  in  the  "Lotus"  and  in  what 


48       New  Testament  Parallels 

Van  den  Bergh  finds  a  confusing  mixture 
of  two  thoughts — the  healing  of  one  who 
was  born  bHnd  and  a  healing  on  the  Sab- 
bath— Seydel  has  explained  as  of  Indian 
origin  on  account  of  the  obvious  supposition 
of  a  preexistence  of  the  soul,  whereas,  he 
sees  the  kernel  of  the  New  Testament  narra- 
tive, according  to  John  9.  39-41,  in  the 
words  of  Jesus,  which  speak  of  the  spiritual 
blindness  of  the  Pharisees,  answering  to 
the  main  thought  of  the  Buddhist  parable  in 
which  a  blind  man  is  first  healed  bodily, 
afterward  spiritually.  Pfleiderer  attaches 
no  importance  to  the  parallelism  of  these 
narratives;  whereas  Van  den  Bergh  as- 
sumes belief  in  the  preexistence  of  the  soul 
held  by  Plato  and  Alexandrianism,  also  in 
Israel,  without  controverting  the  possibility 
that  in  a  much  earlier  time  India  influenced 
the  doctrine  of  the  metamorphosis  taught  by 
Pythagoras,  and  that  his  influences  over 
Plato  and  Alexandrianism  could  have  been 
asserted  in  New  Testament  ideas.  But  the 
question  of  the  disciples,  "Master,  who  did 
sin,  this  man,  or  his  parents,  that  he  was 
born  blind?"  and  the  answer  of  Jesus, 
"Neither  hath  this  man  sinned,  nor  his  par- 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        49 

ents/'  had  by  no  means  the  beHef  in  the  pre- 
existence  of  the  soul  and  the  possibihty  of  a 
sin  in  this  preexistence  for  its  supposition. 
Rather  than  think  of  metamorphosis  or  pre- 
existence of  the  soul  and  the  possibihty  of  an 
orthodox  Indiaism,  one  might  think  that  in 
the  womb  man  could  already  have  sinned  as 
an  embryo  by  evil  impressions,  an  idea 
which  rabbinism  has  further  developed. 

The  transfiguration  on  the  mountain 
(Matt.  17.  9),  which,  according  to  Van  den 
Bergh,  is  said  to  belong  to  the  period  after 
the  resurrection  and  has  been  anticipated  by 
the  evangelist,  has  also  a  parallel  in  the  life 
of  Buddha.  In  the  Maha-Parinibbana-Sut- 
ra,  on  two  occasions  Buddha  instructs  his 
disciple  Ananda  concerning  the  bright  splen- 
dor of  his  complexion,  namely  on  the  night 
when  he  obtained  the  highest  wisdom,  and 
on  the  night  in  which  he  departed  his  life; 
also  at  the  beginning  and  at  the  end  of  his 
public  career;  but  the  similarity,  according 
to  Van  den  Bergh,  is  limited  only  to  the 
shining  figure  of  the  Lord  on  the  mount 
shortly  before  he  announced  his  suffering 
and  death. 

Buddhist  tradition  has   also  a  betrayer. 


50       New  Testament  Parallels 

Buddha  had  an  enemy  among  his  disciples, 
Devadetta,  who  belonged  to  his  own  kindred. 
From  the  vulture-mount,  the  favorite 
preaching  place  of  Buddha,  he  rolls  stones 
down  on  him ;  sets  a  violent  elephant  at  him. 
Moved  by  ambition,  he  is  said  to  have  tried 
to  supplant  the  aged  Buddha  and  to  bring 
the  government  of  the  congregation  into  his 
own  hand.  He  also  demanded  a  stricter 
mode  of  life  in  order  to  appear  the  more 
pious  and  obtain  followers.  Yet,  as  the 
Buddhasharita  of  Asoaghosha,  belonging  to 
the  first  Christian  century,  narrates,  he  was 
cast  into  the  deepest  hell.  The  similarity 
between  Devadetta  and  Judas  is  very  small. 
For  the  biblical  belief  in  Christ  as  Con- 
queror of  Death  and  Life  Mediator,  for  his 
atoning  death,  his  resurrection,  descent  into 
Hades  and  ascension,  which  are  only  meant 
to  be  an  expression  for  his  "exaltation,"  for 
the  belief  in  his  salvation-bringing  name,  for 
baptism  in  his  name  as  the  bath  of  regenera- 
tion, and  for  the  eating  and  drinking  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  Pfleiderer  adduces  numerous 
parallels  from  the  Grseco-Roman  and  Orien- 
tal history  of  religions,  but  none  from  Bud- 
dhism.    But  for  "Christ  as  King  of  kings 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        51 

and  Lord  of  lords,"  who  as  the  Head  of  his 
church  is  the  Saviour,  who  estabhshes  its 
salvation,  who  is  its  Lawgiver,  whose  will  is 
the  censor  of  its  life,  its  Judge,  who  shall 
recompense  everyone  according  to  his 
works;  yea,  who  is  Lord  of  all  the  world, 
he  finds  corresponding  parallels  in  the  ex- 
travagant praises  of  Buddha,  especially  as 
they  are  contained  in  the  twenty-third  chap- 
ter of  the  Lalita-Vistara.  Since  Buddhism 
makes  the  life  of  the  individual,  and  thus, 
also,  that  of  its  founder,  end  in  Nirvana, 
Buddha  cannot  be  thought  of  as  an  exalted 
one  who  continually  rules  his  own  with  di- 
vine power;  but  according  to  Pfleiderer,  for 
the  practical  devotion  of  his  believers,  he  is 
the  ever-present  object  of  their  trusting  love. 
Here,  as  everywhere,  the  psychological  need 
of  faith,  according  to  human  illustration  of 
the  eternal,  naturally  leads  to  a  somehow 
conceived  apotheosis  of  the  historical 
Saviour. 

A  parallel  to  the  promise  of  the  Paraclete, 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  Comforter  and  Advo- 
cate, Seydel  sees  in  the  later  development  of 
the  Buddhist  legend  of  the  appointment  of 
Maitreya  as  Buddha's  successor,  who,  five 


52       New  Testament  Parallels 

thousand  years  after  his  Nirvana  will  let 
himself  down  into  the  bosom  of  a  Maya-deri, 
and  will  become  a  Buddha. 

That  the  Christian  religion  has  in  com- 
mon with  the  Buddhist  the  missionary  im- 
pulse, and  that  both  have  it  back  to  their 
founders,  is  undeniable,  but  certainly  no 
proof  of  borrowing. 

Finally,  the  death  of  Buddha  has  nothing 
in  common  with  that  of  Jesus ;  as  little  as  the 
last  supper  to  which  Buddha  was  invited  by 
a  blacksmith,  and  which  is  fatal  to  him 
through  the  use  of  brawn,  has  to  do  with 
the  institution  of  the  Holy  Supper.  A  later 
Buddhist  tradition  narrates  that  in  order  to 
see  the  all-powerful  Buddha  personified  in 
his  death,  he  voluntarily  offered  his  body  to 
a  starving  tigress  to  save  her  and  her  young 
ones. 

When  Stix  sees  agreements  in  the  pre- 
cepts of  Buddha  and  Jesus,  Van  den  Bergh 
rightly  points  out,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
the  relationship  of  the  two  religions  as  uni- 
versal and  ethical,  may  very  well  explain 
why  some  single  sayings  of  a  religious,  eth- 
ical, or  philosophical  nature  may  sound  alike, 
without  any  need  of  supposing  a  dependence 


In  Buddhistic  Literature         53 

of  the  one  on  the  other  for  the  explanation 
of  such  parallels,  especially  as  these  often 
have  another  meaning  though  agreeing  in 
form. 

Ill 

Though  borrowing  cannot  be  proven  for 
any  of  the  New  Testament  narratives  which 
are  said  to  have  their  parallels  in  Buddhism ; 
though  alleged  similarities  seem  to  have  been 
proven,  such  as  are  partly  subordinate,  partly 
established  in  the  like  religious  idea  of  dif- 
ferent nations,  it  is,  nevertheless,  conceiv- 
able that  a  brief  juxtaposition  of  the  most 
striking  Buddhist  and  New  Testament  pas- 
sages, as  by  Stix,  shows  a  similarity,  and 
many  would  think  the  borrowing  probable. 
In  a  literary  way  It  has  thus  far  not  been 
proved.  Seydel  uses  for  it  this  figure :  "One 
could  break  each  single  rod;  more  difficult 
it  is  with  the  bundle;  but  a  bundle  of  bun- 
dles?" But  this  impression  must  vanish 
when  not  only  like  passages,  be  it  individ- 
ually, or  in  bundles,  are  quoted;  but  the 
whole  is  considered,  especially  in  the  de- 
scription of  the  Buddhist  sources.  Within 
these  Buddhist  documents  those  alleged  par- 


54       New  Testament  Parallels 

allels  occupy  a  very  small  space.  Lallta- 
Vistara,  which  comprises  the  biography  of 
Buddha  until  his  first  public  appearance — 
his  preaching  at  Benares — is  ten  times  as 
large  as  the  Gospel  of  Luke,  about  forty 
times  as  large  as  the  history  of  the  infancy 
and  childhood  of  Jesus  until  his  first  preach- 
ing in  Nazareth  narrated  in  the  same  Gospel. 
Especially  is  the  connecting  text,  which  com- 
bines the  supposedly  other  poetical  portions, 
considering  the  preference  of  the  Indian  for 
wild  exaggerations,  we  have  such  a  mass  of 
extravagances  and  repetitions  that  the  few 
beautiful  or  affecting  passages  are  like  pearls 
in  the  sea.  It  is  hardly  credible  that  a  work 
like  Lalita-Vistara  should  have  exercised  a 
power  of  attraction  upon  a  primitive  Chris- 
tian and  through  him  upon  the  authors  of 
the  synoptic  Gospels  with  their  Old  Testa- 
ment disposition,  or  even  upon  the  author  of 
the  Gospel  of  John,  influenced  by  the  Hel- 
lenic spirit.  Even  Van  den  Bergh  does  not 
think  it  probable  that  the  history  of  Buddha 
as  a  whole  had  in  the  earliest  Christian  time 
come  so  far  toward  the  West  as  to  have 
such  an  influence;  but  he  thinks  it  probable 
that  in  the  first  two  centuries  Indian  tradi- 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        55 

tion   may  have   orally   influenced  the   old 
Christian  gospel  statement. 

Thus  the  possibility  only  remained  that 
some  Buddhist  narratives  entered  into  the 
intellectual  circle  of  the  evangelists  and  were 
adopted  by  them,  just  as  the  apostle  Paul 
received  Greek  educational  elements.  But 
against  this  must  be  asserted  that  it  is  one 
thing  to  quote  occasionally  in  a  letter  the 
word  of  a  Greek  poet,  and  another  thing 
knowingly  to  take  parts  from  the  biography 
of  another  founder  of  religion  and  to  in- 
corporate them  with  the  history  of  the  life 
of  Jesus.  True  it  is  that  the  first  Christian 
century  was  a  time  of  few  and  lasting  reli- 
gious movements  and  also  of  syncretism. 
Doubtless  these  are  extant  for  the  religio- 
historical  contemplation  of  points  of  contact 
and  analogies  between  Buddhism  and  Chris- 
tianity; but  these  contacts  and  analogies 
are  only  partly  apparent,  yea,  directly  falla- 
cious. They  are  so  overbalanced  by  the 
diversity  of  the  entire  conception  of  the 
world  that  the  Christians  of  the  earliest 
times,  if  they  came  at  all  in  contact  with 
Buddhism,  must  have  perceived  this  diver- 
sity, and  repudiated  the  similarity.     They 


56       New  Testament  Parallels 

certainly  were  not  deceived  by  the  apparent 
similarities.  In  order  to  do  away  with  the 
possibility  of  Christian  influence  on  Bud- 
dhist sources,  Seydel  asks  (p.  84) :  "How 
does  one  conceive  of  the  channels  by  which 
foreign  elements  could  run  into  the  solemnly 
fixed  and  scrupulously  kept  canon  at  Cash- 
mere and  Nepal  in  the  first  Christian  cen- 
turies?" But  this  question  can  also  be  re- 
versed. Oldenberg  (Theol.  Literaturzeit- 
ung,  1905,  p.  66)  strikingly  remarks,  that 
the  borrowings  of  foreign  elements  can  al- 
ways only  be  estimated  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  eventually  borrowing  culture  or 
literature,  and  comes  to  the  conclusion: 
"The  possibility  that  Buddhist  elements  pen- 
etrated into  the  circles  in  which  the  Gospels 
originated,  must,  as  a  matter  of  course,  only 
be  admitted  in  abstract.  But  when  I  con- 
sider how  shadowy  are  the  traces  of  Western 
learning  concerning  Buddha  and  Buddhism 
in  the  older  times,  I  cannot  find  it  very  prob- 
able that  the  old  Christian  congregations 
should  so  quickly,  as  must  be  assumed,  have 
snatched  up  so  many  of  the  legends." 

In  his  lecture  delivered  before  the  Inter- 
national Congress  of  Arts  and  Sciences  at 


In  Buddhistic  Literature         57 

Saint  Louis  in  1904  on  "The  Investigation 
of  the  Old  Indian  ReHgions"  (Dentrohe 
Rundsahan,  November,  1905,  p.  216),  he 
says :  "I  dare  to  express  it  as  my  impression, 
that  nothing  in  the  four  Gospels  points  with 
special  probability  to  more  than  mere  inner 
parallelism  to  Buddhism,  not  to  a  real  bor- 
rov^ing  from  India.  A  prominent  specialist  in 
Indian  literature  (Pischel)  not  long  ago  said 
that  "just  as  Babel  is  now  boisterously 
knocking  at  the  gates  of  the  Old  Testament, 
so  Buddha  knocks  at  present  at  the  door  of 
the  New  Testament.  Indeed,  much  knock- 
ing one  hears  here  and  there  who  examines 
the  later  writings  of  old  Christian  literature. 
Even  the  dullest  ear  must  hear  it  when  in  the 
mediaeval  Christian  romance  of  Balaam  and 
Jo'saphat,  the  entire  infancy  history  of  the 
royal  son  of  the  Sakya  house  is  found.  But 
at  the  gates  of  the  New  Testament  itself 
Buddha,  as  it  seems  to  me,  hardly  knocks." 
It  is  small  compensation  that  when  he  de- 
prives the  biblical  document  of  faithfulness 
and  truth,  Seydel  (p.  301)  repeatedly  calls 
attention  to  the  great  apologetic  value,  which 
attaches  itself  to  those  parts  of  our  Chris- 
tian Gospels  which  are  without  analogy,  for 


S8       New  Testament  Parallels 

example,  the  history  of  the  passion,  certain 
fundamental  elements  of  the  faith  and  life 
and  individual  traits  of  Jesus.  In  these  we 
now  have  a  solid  kernel  of  historical  actual- 
ity, immovably  confirmed  anew  by  these  in- 
vestigations. 

It  is  therefore  not  sufficient  to  put  the  in- 
dividual New  Testament  and  Buddhist  nar- 
ratives side  by  side,  but  one  must  compare 
the  spirit  of  both  in  order  to  arrive  at  a  cer- 
tain result  as  to  the  possibility  of  borrowing 
from  Buddhist  sources  or,  at  least,  of  their 
influence  upon  the  Gospels. 

It  is  a  glory  of  Buddhism  that  it  first  put 
the  thought  of  redemption  in  the  center  of 
religion ;  but  how  different  is  that  which  the 
Buddhist  and  what  the  Christian  understand 
by  this  word.  What  is  that  from  which  he 
wishes  to  be  delivered?  How  does  the  re- 
demption take  place  and  whereby  is  it  ac- 
complished ?  The  Buddhist  wishes  a  deliver- 
ance from  the  suffering  of  existence;  his 
desire  is  to  be  freed  from  birth,  in  what- 
ever form  it  is,  and  finally  to  enter  into  Nir- 
vana, into  nothing.  Redemption  he  accom- 
plishes himself,  in  a  purely  intellectual  way, 
through  the  knowledge  of  the  folly  which 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        59 

has  caused  his  existence,  and  through  the 
complete  resignation  of  every  wish  for 
existence.  The  Christian,  too,  hopes  for  de- 
liverance from  suffering,  and  prays  for  de- 
liverance from  evil ;  but  he  suffers  more  un- 
der the  sin  than  under  the  suffering;  from 
the  former  he  wishes  to  be  freed,  freed  from 
its  punishment,  freed  from  its  power. 

Buddhism  has  deeply  felt  the  great  law  of 
causality.  Not  as  if  it  denied  freedom. 
Though  it  may  lack  the  full  notion  of  sin 
as  guilt,  yet  it  lacks  not  that  of  folly,  by 
which  man  becomes  disgusted  with  life ;  but 
it  lacks  one  thing :  belief  in  grace.  Religion 
cannot  get  along  without  this  word.  But 
Buddhism  knows  nothing  of  "grace,''  but 
only  of  Karma.  The  inexorable  law  of 
causality  shows  that  in  its  original  form 
Buddhism  is  at  least  a  philosophical  con- 
ception of  the  world,  that  it  has  no  compre- 
hension of  the  deepest  need  of  the  human 
heart. 

Buddhism  is  great  in  resignation  and 
abiHty  to  suffer;  but  this  resignation  has  its 
cause  in  the  contempt  of  the  body  and  of  life 
in  general.  It  is  far  removed  from  the  resig- 
nation of  the  Christian,  which  has  its  cause 


6o       New  Testament  Parallels 

in  the  conviction  that  even  the  dark  and 
heavy  experiences  come  according  to  the 
will  of  God,  and  that  in  suffering  is  also  a 
blessing. 

Buddhism  has  seriously  looked  into  the 
face  of  the  vanity  of  earthly  things  and  the 
distress  of  life.  For  it  is  its  deepest  con- 
viction that  the  origin  of  the  world  is  a 
great  calamity;  that  the  life  of  man,  from 
his  birth  to  his  death,  is  only  suffering,  and 
that  all  longing  of  him  who  has  come  to 
knowledge  can  only  consist  in  the  desire  to 
be  finally  relieved  from  the  pain  of  any  ex- 
istence. Pessimism  cannot  be  understood 
more  thoroughly,  more  naturally.  Yea,  pes- 
simism is  so  much  the  characteristic  sign  of 
Buddhism  that  some  who  incline  to  it  hardly 
know  anything  more  accurate  of  its  teaching 
than  this;  and,  whatever  the  causes,  they 
only  share  in  this  pessimistic  temper.  Cer- 
tainly, Christianity  also  has  a  deep  insight 
into  the  sin  and  misery  of  the  world.  It  is 
a  conviction  of  biblical  Christianity;  the 
imagination  of  man's  heart  is  evil  from  his 
youth;  "out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil 
thoughts.'*  What  is  said  of  the  natural  man 
is  said  of  the  world;  "the  world  lieth  in 


In  Buddhistic  Literature        6i 

wickedness."  With  the  lamentation,  "O, 
wretched  man  that  I  am !  Who  shall  deliver 
me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?"  the  apostle 
closes  the  statement  of  the  painful  struggle 
between  the  two  powers  in  his  heart  and  in 
his  members;  but  immediately  after  that 
lamentation  of  recollection,  he  exclaims :  "I 
thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 
He  only  knows  the  one  side  of  Christianity, 
its  presupposition,  who  only  knows  the  pes- 
simistic trait  in  it;  not,  however,  the  other 
side,  the  joyous,  world-overcoming,  sense  of 
victory. 

Both  religions  have  in  common  the  belief 
in  a  life  after  death;  but  the  Buddhist  is 
afraid  of  it;  the  redeemed  Christian  looks 
for  it.  To  the  former  nonexistence  seems 
to  be  better  than  the  happiest  state ;  the  lat- 
ter has  a  "desire  to  depart,  and  to  be  with 
Christ  forever."  Buddhism  by  self-disci- 
pline and  mercy  has  morally  influenced  Asi- 
atic nations ;  but  its  ethics  is  essentially  nega- 
tive, a  morality  which  enables  its  adherents 
to  suffer  and  endure,  but  not  to  act  and 
work.  Buddhism  believes  in  no  God.  The 
Christian  has  found  in  God  his  Father.  In 
the    face   of    such    differences,    should   the 


62       New  Testament  Parallels 

Christians  of  the  early  time  have  been  acces- 
sible to  Buddhist  influences  and  made 
legends  from  the  life  of  Buddha  the  model 
for  the  life  of  Christ?  It  is  conceivable  that 
the  nominal  Christians  of  our  day,  who  are 
inwardly  estranged  from  faith  and  yet  have 
an  indistinct  religious  craving,  incline  to  the 
teachings  of  Buddhism,  and  adopt  them,  not 
because  of  its  present  degenerated  form,  but 
on  account  of  its  original,  philosophical  con- 
templation of  the  world ;  but  it  is  hard  to  be- 
lieve that  Christians  of  the  first  centuries 
received  Buddhist  legends  into  the  Gospel  of 
Christ. 


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i^SJSt^n^S 


